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I typically do not like interview style books as they tend to cover surface level topics and focus more on life experiences rather than industry insight. I was pleasantly surprised to read Steven’s latest book of film music. What struck me from the start was the inclusion of music editors, supervisors, and picture editors. I have read nearly a hundred books on film music and none of them address this topic in such a clear and insightful manner. He has provided a global overview of the entire process involving participants who rarely get covered but have such a great impact on the score. The success of this book is largely due to the quality of questions used in the interviews. The idea of asking a professional what their strengths and weaknesses are really guides those interviewed to go much deeper. Any student looking to get into the business in one of these four areas would be well advised to read this book. I prefer physical books over digital copies. When reading books such as this, I typically have a highlighter near by to mark ideas that really strike me. When reading J.J. George’s chapter, I basically stopped highlighting after a few pages because I found nearly everything interesting and important. This book really helped connect the dots between all participants in the scoring process. The behind-the-scenes discussions were more focused than the traditional war stories shared by industry professionals. Each participant shared technical, aesthetic, philosophical, and professional viewpoints… bridging the gap between theory and practice. This book provides a great deal of insight into the culture of media production that aspiring students often have to learn the hard way. I teach a course on music editing and supervision and will be adding this book to the required reading list. Steven has been a guest lecturer at my school. In my 40 years of teaching, I have rarely met a practitioner who is equally gifted in communication, both verbally and in written form. This is an important book for all filmmakers, filling a gap and providing a solid model for creating more effective interview-based texts.- Robin Beauchamp